The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-08-03
CAPTAIN JOHN ERICSSON.
The Active OctoSenarian Still Engaged Upo
Scientific Inventions.

Scientific Inventions.
n. T. Commercial Advertiser of July 90.
Captain John Ericsson will celebrate his eighty
fourth birthday tomorrow. The venerable in
ventor bears his years we'll reporter who
called at his residence in Beach street early this
morning found him hard at work scientific
cravings, and looking as vigorous as a man or
nifty Rising to greet the visitor, Mr.. Ericsson
moved across the room with rapid step, and
clasped the reporters hand in way that gave
no indication of the feebeness of age
feel as strong and well as did twenty five
years ago." said he in answer to the reporters
question. Il have got to discover what sickness
is Not even this warm spell has affected me
AS TO going into the country or to the sea-shore
never think of such things. find all the re-
creation desire right here in my work ROOM
ana hrinly believe that Beach street. New York
city, is the pleasantest place in the country IN
summer"
The Captains appearance bore out his assertion
that heat and work has not affected him. His
neaitny color. bright eyes and good spirits show
now gently time deals with him. The secret of
MS vigorous old age as he explained it to the re-
porter. is very simple He has never made a
study or preserving health. He simply lives a
regular life. eats and drinks according to the
promptings of good appetite. and pays no at
tention to the usually accepted health rules. He
oeEeves that the natural promptings of the body.
II they have never been vitiated by excesses.
should be obeyed and that they are the only
true guides to health; 80 be goes on working
twelve to fourteen hours day at period of
life when most men are engaged chiefly in
warding off bodily ills. He rises regularly at
o'clock and takes exercise by walking until 9,
when he breakfasts. Then he sets to work at
his drawings or experiments and is usually
gagged at them until IL F. NJ He takes dinner
and tea at no fixed hour, but eats whenever he
feels hungry. He is something of a vegetarian.
he seldom eats meat. He finds vegetables and
eggs sufficiently nourishng, and attributes his
good health In a great measure to this partial
abstinence from flesh food. He IS firm be-
lever in walking exercise. While reading
and thinking he generally PAGES to and fro in his
room. and when he has occasion to 60 mile
fyEC frn his ha Soo< IL =,
favorlte drink. Alcoholic drinks he has never
INDUCED in, and he does not know the taste of
tobacco in any FORM
His power of concentration is wonderfully
when his mind is fixed on his work, few things
can d1tturb him. A few evenings since. while
he was working at his plans for his motor,
q little panic arose down stairs account of a
threatened fire. The house keeper ran up to
his room crying that the house all in flames
Captain Ericsson did not even look up from his
drawings until the woman tugged at his sleeve
vigorously, and then he seemed to awaken and
remarked quietly: ''Well, 60 and put it out"
The Captain is fond of showing his scientific
trophies to his friends on his birthdays. He has
a larger collection of them than any man in
America The of which he is most proud
is miniature representation of the great granite
monument which his friends at his birthplace,
Werinland, Sweden, erected in his honor in
1868. 1t bears the inscription: John Ericsson
was born here in 1903" He also has magnif-
cent medal, presented to him by the Liverpool
and Manchester railway. when he built the
famous locomotive. Novelty" in seven weeks
in 1929. Among the other trophies are prizes he
received at various exhibitions for the hydrosta-
tic guage the alarm barometer, the pyroIneter,
the sea lead and the motor.
The sun moter is his latest invention and he
is working to improve it. A description of all
Captain Ericsson's inventions fills volume of
600 pages.
The venerable inventor is fortunate in that
his work is disturbed by financial anxieties.
He is worth about 800, 600 and, although he has
not for years turned his abilities to money max
ing, he earns, incidentally to his experiments,
a considerable income.
He lives in old time mansion in Beach
street. near Hudson street, surrounded by tene-
ment-houses. That noises do not disturb him is
evident for the steps of his house are sort of
playground for the barefooted. noisy urchins of
this neigh borhood. and the freight trucks of the
big warehouses opposite keep up constant rat
ting. He has often been urged by his friends
to move to some quiet Place in the country, but
he refuses, saying that he'has lived for forty
years amid the noises of Beach street, and that
the rush and hustle thereabout help him to con-
centrate his thoughts on work.